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.*･｡. EFF IT! .*･｡.
————PILOT
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005.
WHO'S THE DRIEST OF
THEM ALL?
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"Need a light?"
Sonny rolled her eyes, a blunt between her lips.
"Nope."
She breathed in and held it, then exhaled through her nose. The smoke made a tunnel that tickled her cupid's bow, and he watched it intently as it disappeared. It was mesmerising, sort of like watching the stars at night.
...not that he did that.
"Learn what astrology means, yet?" She asked.
Admittedly, his mouth twitched at the corner.
"Nope," he replied, popping the p.
It was true.
He hadn't learned what astrology meant, nor would he ever, probably. After all, he was JJ Maybank.
What good would knowing the definition even do him? None. It was unlikely his life would ever rely on that specific piece of information; he would never need it. Plus, it proved fun to not know— she had found it mildly irritating that he didn't. So, he decided to never learn it.
Sonny shot him a blank look, unamused, and took another hit. She shook her head and glanced at her nails, like picking the nail polish was more worth her time than him.
JJ hadn't expected to see her there.
Partially because she didn't always show at keggers. Mostly because of the day they'd had.
How she had vanished before JJ could say I took the gun, how awesome is that? What was that about, anyway? The second he turned around, poof! She was gone, like she disintegrated, or something. Fallen to ashes, blown away. A gust in the wind, a change in the tide. JJ wasn't sure he'd ever seen someone run off so cleanly, so quietly. He'd been running away from things for years— the cops, the Kooks, his father. And yet, with all of his practice, even he wasn't that good.
JJ wasn't as good as she was.
It killed him to say it.
Kinda.
Point was, JJ wasn't nearly as good as Sonny. Hence, they'd almost got caught. That was his fault, most definitely his fault, and it had almost landed them all in real shit. Sonny included.
JJ nearly got Sonny Penbrook caught by the cops.
Well wasn't that one hell of a statement? One he had never thought would be apart of his repertoire. Still, a part of him felt proud, even though he probably shouldn't. He had been the one to almost incriminate Sonny Penbrook— how many people could actually say that?
"You're blocking the fire."
JJ blinked, "Huh?"
"The fire," she squinted, "Move."
The blonde boy frowned, turning to see that he was in fact blocking the fire. No wonder his back felt so warm.
Instead of moving and leaving her alone, like she probably hoped he would, JJ smiled cockily and took the open seat on her left. Sonny rolled her eyes again.
He watched her, not even bothering to be discreet, but trying to fathom what had happened in the motel. Was he wrong to feel that pride? Sonny Penbrook had been pressed against his chest on the side of a motel, cops in the room they'd crawled out from after sneaking around.
Sonny Penbrook. A Kook, of all people!
A Kook that he couldn't stop thinking about.
JJ didn't know Sonny Penbrook. Apparently everyone else did, though. Kiara briefly knew her from being a fellow rich kid, Pope knew her because the Penbrooks helped his father sometimes, and John B knew her the most. He passed by her house most days, was in good with her parents, even had his lunch on her dock once or twice.
He said the Penbrooks were big talkers but their daughter was the exception. Must've been true because JJ knew them from around, yet had never heard of her.
Not until a kegger, months ago. When he talked to her for the first time, when he hadn't even known she was Kook. She didn't seem like one. If anything, she acted like he did — like Pogues. He never would have guessed she was from Figure 8, not if Topper hadn't interrupted.
Fucking Topper. On instinct, JJ glanced around. He couldn't see him anywhere, though.
It was probably a good thing, seeing as he hadn't seen him since that kegger — where he'd later learned that Topper had wanted to leave so bad because his fist had made contact with John B's nose after John B smart-mouthed him. It was good JJ hadn't known; he would've given Topper a three second head start before taking him down if he had.
Why did she associate herself with that asshole?
"You're staring."
JJ shrugged, "Observing."
"Observe something else," Sonny hissed.
"Maybe you're the only thing worth looking at," he said obnoxiously, to purposely annoy her.
She grunted.
According to his Pogues, King Kook was Sonny Penbrook's only friend. In a way, it made sense. She wasn't approachable even in the slightest, totally anti-social compared to other kids around the island, but what did he know?
She hadn't even existed to him until six months earlier. JJ's life had been lived without knowing Sonny Penbrook until a random night at the Boneyard, at a kegger she clearly hadn't wanted to be at. Where she claimed he was a Leo and that it was obvious, whatever that meant. The six months following that had been pretty much the same — almost like she was a figment of his imagination. Like he'd made her up in a drunken haze, or something.
But, according to John B, she definitely wasn't a dream.
Even if she seemed good enough to be one — John B's words, not JJ's, but he still agreed with him.
She was definitely some rich snob who didn't think human beings were good enough to be in her company, but JJ had to admit there was something about her that was so...
...dreamy?
Maybe dream-like, was more word. She was weird and all sorts of mean, but JJ liked it. Until she ended being a Kook, that is. Then the appeal kinda dropped, and JJ tried to stop thinking about their encounter too much. She had just been some dumb Kook, after all. One that everyone appeared to be aware of except for him.
JJ supposed that didn't really matter.
Or maybe it did.
He wasn't sure. Regardless, he'd been certain she wouldn't show up in his life again. There was no reason for her to. He never crossed paths with her, before that. Likely never would again. Well, that's what he'd thought, anyways, but had been completely wrong somehow. Because six months after giving her a light for her blunt, JJ bumped into Sonny again and in perhaps the most unlikely place.
After all, he hadn't expected to find her hidden under a bed in room 229 of the SUMMER WINDS MOTEL. Certainly not when only they had the room key.
All day, he had been thinking about Sonny. Why she was at the motel, where she went after, why. It would have been a lie to say he hadn't hoped she would show at the kegger — to get the full story, to answer their questions. Especially now they'd found Scooter Grubs' body, and he just so happened to own a Grady-White.
JJ wasn't a hopeful person, but he had hoped she would be there. And, naturally, when JJ spotted her with a blunt in her hand and a bored look on her face, he was shocked, then he was smug, and then JJ danced on over there.
Naturally.
JJ was a good dancer after a few drinks. Kiara could vouch for him there, whereas Pope would laugh and say that he was awful at it. JJ didn't care though.
"Didn't think you'd show."
Sonny looked at him, finding the smug smile on his face to be totally insufferable — the one that made him look as if he was totally invincible, a superhero or something, like he knew a secret no one else did.
She'd already grown sick of seeing it.
"You say that like you invited me," she said bluntly.
JJ quirked a brow, "Did you wanna be invited?"
"Did I need to be?"
"It's our kegger," he shrugged.
"It's an open beach."
True. It was an open beach. She had a point there, so there was a minute of thought before JJ found something to say. He had already sat down and initiated conversation now. He had to say something. It was awkward if he didn't. That said, it was awkward anyway.
Well, Sonny felt the awkward at least. It was faint with the weed in her system, but it was there. As present as the jitters she had felt since Topper told her Scooter Grubs was found dead in the marsh, that the cops were searching for his boat, and that it was a Grady-White. The same kind of boat she'd found and taken the keys from, which quickly became more than she'd bargained for.
Because that's where she found JJ and John B, though they technically found her, alongside a gun and wads of cash. The room that was almost definitely occupied by Scooter Grubs on the run up to his death, with the money that had fallen out of the mattress, hit her in the face, and was now hidden deep in her room where no one would find it — until she figured out what to do with it, at least. A part of her wished she'd put the thing back, but she had forgotten in the chaos of getting out; you know, before the cops got in.
So, yeah — she felt jittery and awkward.
And for some messed up reason, smoking wasn't helping. It made her want to scream.
"Here."
JJ blinked, staring at the blunt in his face.
"Well...?" Sonny prodded, brow creased. She wiggled it, as if showing him the offer wouldn't be there forever. Normally Sonny wouldn't share her weed, but if JJ knew Scooter's body was found in the marsh, he probably needed it just as much.
A moment passed. Sonny clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, sounding impatient.
"Offer ending in three, two—"
JJ rolled his eyes and snatched the blunt, placing it between his lips and taking a long drag. Sonny was dry, he decided, but her weed was pretty good.
Had he ever met someone as dry as Sonny? As blunt?
John B had once said she was known for lacking in human interaction. That she far preferred time alone over time with other people — whereas JJ liked time with his friends because it meant time away from his home. Half of the time he didn't even go back home, instead he camped out on John B's couch and slept the days away.
There was a silence, neither of them knowing what to say. They'd never talked much, before. What were they meant to say to each other?
Nice to see you? Obviously fucking not.
"Quite a day, huh?"
Sonny froze. Even JJ was caught off guard by his words.
She scowled at him, "Quite a day? Really?"
"Look— I'm trying, princess." JJ shot back, feeling slightly embarrassed but not wanting to show it, "I'm tryna make this less weird than it already is, okay? Cut me some damn slack."
"Make what less weird?" She narrowed her eyes. JJ let his roll. Sonny raised her brows. "What? Got something to say?" He muttered something. She tilted her head, "No, no, go on. Enlighten me, JJ. I wanna hear it."
"Want me to come right out and say it?"
"I'd love you to."
"Brave for a Kook," he repeated but louder.
It made her lip curl. JJ noticed.
"Oh, ya don't like being called that? Ah— but that's exactly what you are, Kook." JJ taunted, "I mean, that's why you ran. 'Cause you're a Kook, and you were happy to leave us in that crappy motel to get caught by cops if they came back. Right? Ain't that right?"
"You're the one who almost got us caught," she retorted. It was hostile and sharp, like her.
"So what?" JJ scoffed, "Live a little."
"I'd rather not live behind bars," she said.
"Yeah? Well some of us aren't gonna amount to anything more than that."
He took another drag of her blunt, then passed it back to her. Sonny grimaced at the sand left behind from his sticky beer covered hands, tapping it against her thigh to knock as much of it off as possible. JJ's eyes guiltlessly lingered on the patch of skin, just below her shorts.
The tension seemed to dissipate slightly; washed away with the faint crash of the tide, in the smoke floating in the breeze around them.
It was strange— how swiftly the irritation could pass when there was green involved. Maybe it was the weed, or maybe it was because both teenagers were too exhausted to bicker any longer. About their messy day, about their messy upbringings. They were too different.
"What the fuck even happened today?"
She look at him in her peripheral and sighed.
"We lived."
"Woah... that was deep, bro."
It wasn't very deep, but Sonny nodded regardless; "Life's deep, sunshine."
JJ's nose crinkled, sunshine?
Part of him wanted to ask about Scooter Grubs, if Sonny had heard, but he decided she must have done. Everyone in the OBX would've heard all about Scooter's body now. The island was small and even the most mundane news travelled fast. So considering this was something big, and that Topper Thornton was her friend (who JJ knew to be a huge rumour spreading dickhole), Sonny would have had to be deaf to not hear about it. Maybe not even then.
It was hot talk, hot talk that the Pogues had somehow found themselves at the centre of, along with a Kook; one they still weren't sure how or why had gotten involved, but still had. In fact, Sonny princess Penbrook was very involved — as much as the Pogues, whether any of them liked it or not.
What she would do about it, however, he wasn't sure. She didn't know either. It was unlikely they would let it slide, not now Scooter's body was found.
The Pogues didn't let things go easily.
Did Sonny?
JJ wanted to ask. So badly. It was itching his sunburn and crawling up his neck. Truth be told, he had never really been the most patient person— JJ was always antsy, no matter the rhyme or reason. His father always said he was just so fucking ADHD, like some sort of cruel insult, but he had never been diagnosed. They couldn't afford it, even though his teachers told him it was probably why he was such a shit in class. But most people just decided that he was slightly whack. Off his head. Twisted. Which he was, there was no denying it, but it wasn't the same thing.
At least if he acted batshit, then nobody could say anything about it, 'cause he already knew.
One good thing that came out of this — picked up by John B, age twelve — was JJ rarely stopped asking questions.
Not like Pope, who constantly questioned everything as a way to express his anxiety. No, JJ just had this desperate need and urgency to know everything, to not feel out of the loop, and it almost physically pained him if he didn't know. He just had to know. Had to.
And, so, he asked questions.
Lots of them.
It got annoying. He knew it did. But maybe it was why he liked mysteries so much.
Scratch that — JJ loved mysteries. He was like Sherlock, but better looking, and not as pretentious. He had to know what went unanswered. Mysteries were there to be solved, after all, and Sonny was one of the biggest he'd ever come across. He just had this itch to figure her out.
Could she tell he was desperate to ask? He didn't want to come across as desperate. Could she see how he itched at the skin above the inside of his elbow until it was red raw? Did she hear his foot tap to the rhythm of All Star? He hoped she wasn't aware of that one. Sonny had no business knowing his favourite animated movie was Shrek.
God— JJ was bursting with questions. Fuck it! He was just gonna ask her.
"Hey—"
Until, he wasn't.
"Sonny!"
Seriously? Again?
History had a funny way of repeating itself.
Like last time, Sonny stubbed her blunt out and scowled at Topper, who now stood metres away with Sarah Cameron at his side. He looked at Sonny, then JJ, and JJ could've sworn he saw Topper flinch at how close they sat. Actually, it made JJ feel quite smug. But the feeling was soon replaced with usual irritation, the one that always surged up his spine when King Kook was nearby.
"I know we're at a Pogue kegger, but that doesn't mean we interact with them. It's charity work," Topper said, smirking. Some Kooks laughed.
"Don't, Topper..." Sarah muttered, uncomfortable.
All eyes were on them, something Sarah Cameron had to be used to. So why did she look so disturbed?
Sonny scoffed at it.
"Like your mommy does charity work by giving you money, each week?" JJ shot back, hardly missing his beat. It was south side kids' turn to laugh while Topper's face turned red. Sonny turned to JJ, a glint in her eye that he perceived as some form of amusement.
Sonny ran her tongue across her lip and tilted her head to smirk at her knees. Call JJ an idiot, but was Sonny Penbrook trying not to laugh? At what he had said?
About her only friend, no less?
Maybe JJ was funnier than he thought.
But he wasn't the only one to notice it. Topper glowered at Sonny, who could hardly care less, and tried to push down the hurt swelling in his chest when she didn't move away from JJ.
She's totally high, he reminded himself when he spotted the blunt in her hand, she always acts like this when she's high. Bitter. Even more than when sober.
Topper was ready to say something else, but Sarah took his hand and headed the other way. He followed after her, with a pointed look at Sonny, and the fight that might've broken out was resolved before it was able to.
Fair play, Cameron.
Sonny's eyes followed Topper and Sarah as they made for a different part of the beach, somewhat glad that the latter had been there tonight instead of her brother — who would have egged a fight on, the first chance he got.
Sonny sighed. Topper was going to be upset that she didn't leave JJ, she would hear all about it tomorrow. Topper could be so codependent, these days.
She flicked her blunt and tossed it to the ground, suddenly done with it. It wasn't like there was much of it left to smoke, anyway. JJ rolled his eyes when she stood up and stretched, a newfound irritation building within him. She simply glanced at him, face blank.
"Not gonna run after him, are you? Like the giant fuckin' man-baby, that he is? Wipe his tears and make him a bottle?"
"I need a leak," she said, "But keep diggin', Sherlock."
Sherlock? Another nickname?
Before JJ could say anything else, Sonny had spun on her heels and disappeared into the crowd of teenagers under the darkening night. The sun was setting and with it his window of opportunity.
And he didn't get to ask her anything.
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